


This Woman's Work

by merisunshine36



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:26:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merisunshine36/pseuds/merisunshine36
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Tony reveals his new identity to the world, Pepper visits an old Stark family friend for advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Woman's Work

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was born from my wondering, what if Howard Stark and baby spy!M had adventures together at some point? After Howard's death, maybe M kept an eye on Tony from afar until she got too caught up in spy work. So then she pulled some strings behind the scenes and found someone who she thought could keep an eye on Tony for her. That person just happens to be Pepper Potts. Every now and then they get together and coffee klatsch about what kind of trouble Tony is causing that month.
> 
> Fic is set shortly after the events in Iron Man 1.
> 
> Fic title stolen from the song by Maxwell where he wails a lot in the beginning (also attributable to Kate Bush, if you prefer). Thanks to thedeadparrot for helping me manage my semicolon addiction as well as feeding me Pepper's last line. All remaining fail is my own.

"You've got ten minutes before I'll need to send you on your way," says M, "so make it quick."

Pepper shuts the door behind her, relieved that M could make time in her schedule at all. She's always done her best not to abuse M's open door policy. Pepper knows it's only in place because of a promise she made to Howard a lifetime of adventures ago. They get a bottle of scotch and a card from her every year around Christmas; Tony drinks the former and leaves the latter unopened. Pepper has them in a file for safekeeping, thirteen cream-colored envelopes with neat, even handwriting. Maybe one day he'll want them.

"I take it you've heard about—well, everything." Pepper's had a persistent, dull headache since the press conference last week, when Tony decided to take the remaining shreds of his credibility and set them all on fire. The name _Iron Man_ doesn't even sound all that cool. For now, Tony's safely squirreled away in a meeting with the new VP of Stark Industries London, still a bit woozy from a bender the night before but only 15 minutes late. She was lucky—lately it's been difficult to get him out of his workshop at all.

The steady click of computer keys pauses; M doesn't look up as she slides a folder in Pepper's direction. "Agent Coulson spoke quite highly of you."

Pepper doesn't touch the file. Of course she's in league with SHIELD. Pepper has suspected that she's had a plant in their R&D division for years. Anyone with half a brain knows that it's there, not in the Stark Industries boardroom, that all the real action happens.

"Do you mind if I--" Pepper begins, reaching for the cigarettes in her purse. She picked them up on a whim from a corner store down the road from their hotel. Pepper Potts and tobacco have had a horrible on-again, off-again affair since college. Pepper has been good for the last few years, but a near-death experience means you get to indulge a little. She's got her hands poised in front of her mouth when she notices the frown M is sending her way over the top of her computer monitor.

"I thought we'd discussed this, Miss Potts." M looks pointedly at the lighter in Pepper's hand. And just like that, Pepper is returning the cigarette to its silver case with a quiet _snap_ , and wondering why she'd ever bought them in the first place. She's also wondering if steely-gazed mind control is part of the curriculum in spy school. "Much better. You have seven minutes now."

"Sorry." Pepper's hands are shaking a little, like she's crashing from a month-long adrenaline high. "I haven't touched them in forever, I swear. It's just been so crazy lately, I--" Pepper stops, takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment. She lays her hands flat across a desk that's older than anything Tony owns, and the cool surface of the wood grounds her a little.

M pointedly clears her throat. "I take it you're here to discuss Anthony's latest exploit?" She's the only one Pepper's ever heard refer to Tony as _Anthony_. Then again, she's the only person Pepper knows who has changed Tony's diapers. Not that she'll ever admit to it.

"It's a _flying metal suit_ , for Christ's sake. He's developed this...savior complex, I don't know, he's letting people shoot at him. Trouble always used to find him somehow, but now it's like he just goes looking for it. I don't know if it's post-traumatic stress or a mid-life crisis, but it needs to stop."

Pepper lets her face drop into her hands. Just unloading like this, around someone who understands, is a relief. Even Rhodey, her long-time ally in Stark wrangling, is useless this time. After he got over his initial shock, she's seen the way he is around the suit. All wistful gazes and unhelpful suggestions about additional weaponry and how awesome it would be if the suit had a stealth mode.

"Miss Potts, there is a reason your were plucked from the accounting department of Stark Industries, and it's not because of your arithmetic skills," M replies, matter of fact. "I consider myself an excellent judge of character—are you telling me that I was mistaken?"

Pepper's mouth works open and shut. "Tabloid cover-ups I can handle. Being chased by a trusted family friend wearing a robot suit when he has a psychotic break is just...I don't think I can do it." She remembers the feeling of the floor vibrating beneath her and the smell of hot metal as Obie aimed the machine gun at her face. Her stomach curls in response.

M leaves her seat and crosses to the front of her desk where she perches on the edge. Pepper can see the faintest suggestion of a smile in the fine network of lines around her eyes. "Surely you didn't think that being personal assistant to an arms manufacturer meant afternoon shopping and lunch at Le Bernardin, did you? If you'd decided to quit already, you wouldn't be here. So why are you?"

Pepper doesn't mention the necklace Tony picked out for her yesterday, a kind of cack-handed apology for everything that's happened in recent weeks. He wanted to put it on for her, so she let him. She even let him get away with resting his fingers at the top of her spine longer than was really necessary.

"I spend every night thinking of the ten thousand ways he could die while doing this." Pepper fingers the watch on her wrist. It's plain and unassuming, with a small face and a black leather wristband. She bought this one. It was a little gift for herself when she was first hired at SI, bought with money earned during a time when she didn't know Tony's social security number and he didn't know her name. "I want you to tell me that he's worth sticking around for."

M looks off out the window at the clouds rolling fat and heavy across the horizon. Her eyes go a little distant for a moment before she turns to face Pepper again. There's a sadness to her expression that wasn't there before, and Pepper thinks for the first time that it could be so much worse. After all, she only has to worry about one person not making it home.

"Believe me, Miss Potts—the good ones always are."


End file.
